THE HORTICULTURIST.
1. The Creator of the Universe, having formed man from the dust of the ground, provided a magnificent garden for his residence, and commanded him "to dress it and to keep it:" but, having transgressed the commandment of his lawful Sovereign, he was driven from this delightful paradise, thenceforth to gain a subsistence from the earth at large, which had been cursed with barrenness, thorns, thistles, and briars.
2. Scripture does not inform us, that Adam turned his attention to gardening; nor have we any means of determining the state of this art, in the centuries previous to the flood; but it is highly probable, that it had arrived to considerable perfection, before the advent of this destructive visitation from Heaven.
3. Gardens, for useful purposes, were probably made, soon after the waters had subsided; and the statement in Scripture, that "Noah planted a vineyard," may, perhaps, be regarded as evidence sufficient to establish it as a fact. If this were the case, the art, doubtless, continued progressive among those descendants of Noah, who did not sink into a state of barbarism, after the confusion of tongues.
4. Among savage nations, one of the first indications of advancement towards a state of civilization, is the cultivation of a little spot of ground for raising vegetables; and the degree of refinement among the inhabitants of any country, may be determined, with tolerable certainty, by the taste and skill exhibited in their gardens.
5. Ornamental gardening is never attended to, in any country, until the arts in general have advanced to a considerable degree of perfection; and it uniformly declines with other fine or ornamental arts. Accordingly, we do not read of splendid gardens among the Babylonians, Egyptians, Jews, Greeks, Romans, and other nations of antiquity, until they had reached an exalted state of refinement; and when these nations descended from this condition, or were overthrown by barbarians, this art declined or disappeared.
6. During the period of mental darkness, which prevailed between the eighth and thirteenth centuries, the practice of ornamental gardening had fallen into such general disuse, that it was confined exclusively to the monks. After this period, it began again to spread among the people generally. It revived in Italy, Germany, Holland, and France, long before any attention was paid to it in England.
7. In the latter country, but few culinary vegetables were consumed before the beginning of the sixteenth century, and most of these were brought from Holland; nor was gardening introduced there, as a source of profit, until about one hundred years after that period. Peaches, pears, plums, nectarines, apricots, grapes, cherries, strawberries, and melons, were luxuries but little enjoyed in England, until near the middle of the seventeenth century. The first hot and ice houses known on the island, were built by Charles II., who ascended the British throne in 1660, and soon after introduced French gardening at Hampton Court, Carlton, and Marlborough.
8. About the beginning of the eighteenth century, this art attracted the attention of some of the first characters in Great Britain, who gave it a new impulse in that country. But the style which they imitated was objectionable, inasmuch as the mode of laying out the gardens, and of planting and trimming the trees, was too formal and fantastical.